you trust it? i do trust it. i trust it because this was put together over a long period of time. much of this ultimately had to be negotiated between republican and democratic staffs. republican and democratic members. it would not have been put out this afternoon unless the facts were agreed to by both sides of the aisle. and i do want do ask you about the border. very quickly, the president s meeting with vladimir putin coming up in a couple of weeks in helsinki. do you think he s trying to exploit divisions in this country? do you lay this at the feet of vladimir putin almost in the way the intelligence committee does and the intelligence committee does in this report? they say that vladimir putin is behind this. do you think he s trying to exploit divisions in the country to this day? vladimir putin loves this domestic political squabble that we re in from the day that donald trump won. it just draws attention away
coming up in four months. right. it sounds as if the administration is not ready. they re still doubting what the intelligence community is saying and it says in this intelligence committee report that, yes, there are efforts being made right now to sow discord and potentially meddle in the upcoming midterms. what happens if they re meddle with again by the russians? what happens then? you would think, jim, that the president would shoulder the blame for that because he made a decision not to direct u.s. officials to try to intervene, to try to push back. our u.s. intelligence community, didn t direct them to take action in advance of what we consider all but certain russian aggression in this election and of course in 2020, as well. so you would have to think that there would be perhaps political consequences for the president and certainly that congress would be compelled to act. congress did appropriate funds for states to use in this election but they re only just
bipartisan basis from richard burr and mark warner, bipartisan, is reaching the same conclusion. that there was, in fact, an orchestrated effort by the russian government, led by putin, in order to accomplish that goal of undermining the election. the president tries to undermine the intelligence community s findings every day calling it a witch hunt every other day. do you think that the report now that you have republicans on board in the senate agreeing with these findings, they have essentially said this over on the senate side all along but putting out a report solidifies that. will that help counter the narrative you hear from the president and often on fox news and among some house republicans that the findings can t be trusted? can you counter that narrative with this report? i think it s going to be an ongoing public relations battle. on the one hand, we will have inconvertible evidence put
next item is about torture which the government prefers to call by a euphemism, its friendlier name, enhanced interrogation techniques. this is from today s new york times. it s about what the u.s. did to this guy, khalid sheik mohammed, the 9/11 planner. but just so we re clear, this is torture. and it reads, quote, in the weeks after his capture an intelligence committee report said mr. mohammed was suggested to the suffocation technique called waterboarding 183 times over 15 sessions. stripped naked, doused with water, slapped, slammed into a wall, given rectal rehydrations without medical need, there s a euphemism. shackled into painful stress positions and sleep deprived for about a week by being forced to stand with his hands chained above his head. torture by any other name is something militaries and governments and presidents get to choose to employ or not and america s use of torture during the bush presidency and the
which the government prefers to call by a euphemism, a friendlier name, enhanced interrogation techniques. this is from today s new york times, it s about what the cia did to this guy, the 9/11 planner. but just so we re clear, it s torture. quote, in the weeks after his capture, an intelligence committee report said mr. mohammad was given rectal rehydrations without medical need, shackled into painful stress conditions and sleep deprived for about a week by being forced to stand with his hands chained above his head. torture by any other name is something militaries and governments and presidents get to choose to employ or not. and america s use of torture during the bush presidency in the aftermath of 9/11, that was front and center today in the